Clutch mechanism.



No. 857.1393. A PATENTED JUNE 1s, 1907.

, W. J. RAGMAN.

CLUTCH MBYCHANISM.

APPLIGATIO FILED sEPT.14,"19o5.

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UNITED 4sTA'rEs PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM- J. IIAGMAN, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, AssIoNoP. To i NILEs-BEMENT-POND COMPANY, or PLAINFIELD, NEW JEEsEY, A con- PORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

CLUTCH MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed September A14.. 1905. Serial No.278,492.

Patented June 18, 1907.

T0 all whom it meegaan/@wmf Be it known that I, WILLIAM J. IIAGMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing in Philadelphia, Pennsyfvania, have invented certain'lmprovements in Clutch Mechanism, of which the .following is a specification..

The main 'object of my invention is to provide certain im rovements inthe detail construction of t e pneumatic clutching mechanism employed particularly in connection with planer drives, and among the advantageous results which I desire to attain maybe, named a saving 1n the volume of compressed air required to operate la clutch of a given size and a reduction of the mass of revolving metal in the clutch mechanism'jwhereby a quickergreversal of the' planer driving shaft is made possible. I`

also desire to reduce the space occupied by a clutchmechanism of a given capacity, and further wish to provide' an improved arrangement of the means whereby fluid under pressure is introduced in the mechanism to operate the same. 1

Another object of my invention is to provide anovel and advantageous arrangement of friction blocks 'for the plates ofthe clutch trating the mounting .of thefriction blocks in the clutch'plates and Fig. 3, is a vertical section illustrating a modification of the construction shown in Fig. 2.

In the above drawings,l A represents the main shaft of the drive, which may be turned' in either direction according as to whether -it is operated from the gear wheel B or from the gear wheel B which are turned in op Q sitev directions by any desired motor. he device bywhich this is accom lished preferably consists of the parts s own. in lthe figures and includ-es a pair of clutches D and D byl which either of said gear wheels may instance is formedintegral with'it.

shaft is reversed.v y Vd on each side of the cylinderd, d3, are probe operatively connected to the shaft A. The` intermediate portion a of the shaft is of larger diameter than the two portions a 'and a2 and has keyed to it a sleeve d, which overhangs both of the smaller portions and has on it a piston el. which in the present Said piston operates in a cylinder formed by -two castings dand dsuitably bolted together to make an air tight casing which is slidably mounted upon the sleeve (Z. For the purpose ofpreventing leakage of fluid between the sleeve and the cylinder, packing rings dtare placed in suitable annular recesses formed `in the sleeve so as to engage suitable surfaces of the ends of the cylinder, the peri phery of the piston being of relatively great width to provide for the reception of another 5 packing ring d In order 'to reduce'theclearance spaces in A the cylinder and at the same time keep down the mass of metal in the reversible parts to the lowest permissible point, I place within each end. of the cylinder a series of wooden blocks d, and, these, by filling the space which could never be occupied by the piston, reduce the amount of air necessary to fill the cylinder, and in view o f the inherent lightnessof the Wood of which 1`ey are made, do not increase the inertia of the shaft A and its attached parts, which has to be overcome each time 'the direction of rotation vofjsaid The portions of the sleeve vided with s eries of keys c, preferably independent of the material of said sleeve, and upon these are slidably mounted series of clutch disks c-`there thus being a s et Aof sai disks on each side of said cylinder.'

The gear Bis bolted or otherwise fixed to a casting E mounted upon a graphite bushing e on thel portion a of the shaft A, while the gear B is similarly mounted upon a casting E carried upon a graphite bushing e" en the Both of these castortion a2 of said shaft. ings E and E have portions whlch extend under the overhung parts ofthe sleeve d, so

that ample bearing for their respective gears is secured in spaces which would otherwiseV be required for the support of said sleeve, iD. additlon being provided with portions overhanging the clutch plates c on the sleeve.

These overhanging parts have keys eupon y i' whichv are slidably mounted clutch rings or 5' a series of transverse holes placed adjacent to their peripheries and having loosely mounted in them a series of wooden plugs or friction blocks e4 of such length that they project beyond the faces of the plates and engage the adjacent faces' of the plates c when the clutch is operated.

In order to transmit the motive fluid for the operation of the clutches D and D', l form in the shaft A a passage or conduit f in the line of the axis of said shaft; this passage extending from one end of said shaft to a point adjacent to the cylinder d2, d3. At a point near the inner end of this .passage I forma conical seat f and place in the passage a pipef2 having its end tapered to form an air tight joint with said beveled seat and its opposite end similarly beveled to lit the seated end of'a sti'd'ling box g adapted to be connected to av pipe g of a fluid controlling valve. lt will be understood that the external diameter of the pipe f 2 Ais less than the I internal diameter of the passage f so that there exists an annular conduit outside of said pipe.

It will be understood that the stufling box g is carried on a tubular piece g2 fixed in any desired manner to the end of the shaft and there is also mounted upon this piece a nonrotatable ring g3 having in it a radially placed passage communicating with the pipe g4,

also connected to the controlling valve. The

passage in said ring is so placed as to always remain in communication with the interior of the annular chamber surrounding the pipef2 through an annular passage gv5 in the piece g2; there being washers g, preferably formed of wooden rings soaked in oil, interposed between the end of the shaft and the ring g3 and between said ring and a nut 97 screwed onto the end of the piece g2.

The interior of the pipe]r2 is connected atv its inner end with the cavity of the clutch cylinder in the casting d3 through a passage f, while the space communicating with the pipe g4 vand around the outside of the pipef2 connects with the cavity in the cylinder d2.

With this arrangement of parts any desired form of controlling valve may be so operated as to supply air or other suitable motive fluid under pressure through pipe gl and the shaft A, and if the gears B and B' be turned in opposite directions, then said motive fluid will pass from the pipe g to the interior of the pipe f2, throught the passage f 3, and into the cavity of the cylinder formed in the casting cl3. As a consequence, the cylinder will be moved bodily toward the gear B and the blocks or lugs e4 on the various rings e3 of the clutch will be grippedlbetween the 5 plates c., -so that the sleeve d and consequentlythe shaft A and its attached mechanism will be turned in one direction by the shaft D. If, now, the motive iiuid be exhausted through the pipe g and iuid under pressure be supplied' through pipe g4, it will ow through the annular space surrounding the pipe f2, through passage f 4 into the cylinder cavity within the casin b2, with the result that said cylinder will e bodily moved toward the gear B', vand since such movement will cause the plugs e4 in the plates e3 of the clutch B" to be gripped between the alternating plates c of said clutch, the direction of rotation of the sleeve b, and with it -also the shaft A, will be reversed, since said parts will be driven by the gear B.

It will be seen that with the above described arran ement of arts the gears B and B are much c oser toget er, than has hitherto been considered possible when a pair of automatic clutches are employed for reversing the direction of thf driven shaft and consequently the space occupied by the clutch mechanism is materially less, though the diameters of the various arts have not been materially increased. ft will also be noted that the volume of air required to operate the clutches is reduced to a minimum, owing to the small clearance in the cylinder. ln addition, the means for introducing the air to the two ends of saidY cylinder is relatively simple and of such a nature as to require but little attention under operating conditions.

l If desired, the plugs e, instead of being mounted in' holes extending completely through the plates e3, as in Fig. 2, may be carried in recesses formed in the faces of said plates as shown in Fig. 3 at e5; it being obvious that in any case it is a comparatively simple matter to replace the blocks when this is required on account of wear. In putting new plugs in place it is only necessary that they shall be the same length and have their engaging faces perpendicular to their long axes. i

I claim as my invention:

1. The combination of a pair of fluid operated clutches and a cylinder and piston for actuating the same, with a shaft provided with two concentric passages `respectively connected'to the two ends of he cylinder, a non-revoluble ring carried on an extension of the shaft and having an interior annular recess connected to a fluid supply pipe and in communication with the exterior of said concentric passages, a pipe in line'with the line of the inner of said passages, and a stuffing box carried by the shaft foi` malnng an air tight connection between said pipe and said inner passage, substantially as described.

2. A driving mechanism for planer platens comprising a hollow clutch shaft operatively connected with the platen, two reversely rotating clutch barrels mounted loosely on said shaft, covoperating clutch disks operatively connected respectively with each barrel and the clutch shaft, a central air pipe arranged axially within the clutch shaft, an axially movable shifting cylinder arranged between the disks of the two clutches and havingoppositc ends connected by branch passages with bores 0f the clutch shaft and the central pipe, a piston operatively connected with the clutch shaft and arrangedfin said cylinder between said branch passages, a statlonary air box receiving said clutch shaft and having an air chamber connected with the bore of said shaft, a branch air pipe connected with the chamber of said air box, a -branch air pi e connected with the central air pipe, and pac 1 5 ings arranged between the bore of sald air box and the periphery of said shaft on opposite sides of the alr chamber.

/In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this speciiic'ation, in the presence of zo two subscribing Witnesses.

WILLIAM J. HAGMAN.

Witnesses:

WALTER CHIsM, Jos. H. KLEIN. 

